Wednesday, December 23, 2015

This week has been absolute craziness! We have tried to stay on top of everything but we havent really been able to do that this week. There are always things that you can't really plan in advance and then make the days really interesting. At the same time, we have been able to see so many miracels start to happen here in Utby and in Göteborg. But we can start out with the thing that you all are probably really interested about. Thanksgiving. We had a couple of thanksgiving dinners, we had one that Elder and Sister Hawley made for the distrikts in Göteborg which was soooo good!!

I left there knowingly and willingly eating too much food. and then our ward mission leader is also from the states and he always puts on a big thinksgiving dinner for a bunch of people in their family and then the missionaries are also always invited and I have to say that his pie making skills are ridiculously good!! So we had some real american pies as well which is pretty rare in Sweden. The swedes that were there said that they had never eaten so much food at one time in their whole life so for them it was basically a confirmation of all the rumores that americans eat a ridiculous amount of food haha.

This week we have had some amazing lessons with Azi and with other members of the ward. The relief society president came with us on one and explained that everyone gets a calling and how the relief society works and everything like that and Azi is so excited to ba a part of everything!! We asked her to have a calling and she was just like "well duh Im going to have a calling" haha she is so ready. She will be baptized this saturday and we could not be more excited for her. Everyone on sunday was just in love with her and her 5 year old daughter so its pretty cool to see everyone getting involved.

how I feel at the end of a night

Lennart has still been in and out of the hospital because of his blood pressure it has been super high for him and thats really not good for anybody and especially not for him so if you can keep him in your prayers that would be much appreciated. He is back at home now but we have gotten a lot of calls late at night this week with him being taken to the hospital and things like that so we are thinking about him a lot.

We had an elder quorum activity this week as well and a lot of less actives and investigators were able to come to this meal. We can talk about the gospel all we want with people but until its applied then it will never resonate in people. The activites in the church and the family activities that we have are so important for people to begin to feel the love of god but also that they can have a chance to practice the religion that they have learned. If we cant practice there is absolutely no way to be able to develop patience or charity or diligence. And what better place to practice then in the home or around people that you trust and have the same ideas and priorities that you do? So if you ever think that activities arent worth it or family home evenings or anything like that just do them and I promise that you will see the difference and it might not be right away but it will come.

Elder Albertsen hurt his back really bad this week as well so we were in the doctors office all of thursday and got some medication and things they said it wasnt anything really dangerous but that it would probably hurt really bad... it does.

I was also at a funeral this week for a sister in the ward and we were there to help and support the family they are such good people and the funeral was so well done. The spirit was there really strongly reminding me anyways of the truthfullness of the plan of salvation that families can be together forever. That is a huge part that makes us different from other religions we do believe that and we do it proudly and I can tell you that I know that it is true as well and these are the things that make life make sense. The holy ghost can confirm the truthfullness to everyone it doesnt matter if you have been a member all your life and your 98 (99 is an exception) but get on your knees and ask God where truth is and you will find it.

We had 7 investigators that came to church this week and a newly baptized member from Iran that we had helped make a talk that gave it in sacrament meeting. It was one of the coolest feelings and it is cool to see how an area can change and to see the individuals that change and keep improving their life and the situations they are in and how the gospel plays a key role in that. Super cool to just be there and see things that God is doing for people in this area.

I hope you all have a great week!! Remember during Christmas om det finns hjärtefum så finns det sjärterum!!

Älskar er!!

My invitation to all of us is to evaluate our lives, repent,and keep on trying. If we don’t try, we’re just latter-daysinners; if we don’t persevere, we’re latter-day quitters;and if we don’t allow others to try, we’re just latter-dayhypocrites (just liked this quote from Elder Renlund)

1. how I feel at the end of a night
2.distrikt meeting thanksgiving
3. yess
4. Elder Albertsen in the hospital